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Bob De Carolis Named Athletic Director of the Year

Oregon State University’s Bob De Carolis has been selected the 2010 recipient of the Under Armour West Region Athletic Director of the Year, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) announced Monday.

De Carolis has served as Athletic Director at Oregon State since August of 2002 after arriving on campus in April of 1998 as Associate Athletic Director for internal operations.He was promoted to Senior Associate Athletic Director in July of 1999.

“The Athletic Director of the Year award is essential because it highlights the efforts of athletics directors at all levels for their commitment and positive contributions to campuses and their surrounding communities,” NACDA Executive Director Mike Cleary said.

Under De Carolis’ leadership, the Beavers have improved competitively on the fields of play and academically.Some of the competitive highlights include the football team posting a winning season for the first time in nearly three decades, men’s basketball compiling a winning season for the first time in 15 years, the softball program made its first appearance ever in the College World Series and the baseball team competed in the College World Series for the first time in more than five decades – capturing the 2006 and 2007 national championships. With him in a leadership role, the football team has played in nine bowl games and overall, 16 of the 17 intercollegiate programs sponsored by OSU have participated in postseason.

Academically, 51 percent of the entire athletic roster sports a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher. Community service hours have tripled during his tenure and contributions for scholarships to the Beaver Athletic Student Fund (BASF) have increased from $5 million to more than $11 million.

De Carolis spearheaded the feasibility study for a plan that has expanded and renovated Reser Stadium to its current capacity of nearly 46,000.The new amenities and overall success of the football team has prompted “Beaver Nation” to purchase a school record 26,000 season tickets for the upcoming season. He has also led the OSU team to construct or improve existing facilities, such as the Sports Performance Center, Gill Coliseum, Goss Stadium at Coleman Field, the OSU Softball Complex, the Tommy Prothro Football Complex and the Merritt Truax Indoor Center.

His fundraising goals continue for the upcoming academic year and beyond. Current projects in development include a$16 million Student AcademicSuccess Center that will be shared with the entire OSU campus,the remodeling of the Valley Football Center, construction of a $15 millionpractice facility for the basketball and volleyball teams, a $2.5 millioncrew facility and a $4 million track and field complex.

De Carolis is actively involved on national and conference level committees, and just completed a three-year stint on the NCAA Division I Management Council (MANCO). He recently chaired the Pac-10 Conference Budget and Finance Committee, and currently is on the Pac-10 Television and Bowl Committees, the NCAA Student-Athlete Benefits Cabinet and the Football Issues Committee.

He is a 1976 graduate of Bloomsburg University (then Bloomsburg State) in Bloomsburg, Pa., with a Bachelor’s of Science in business education, receiving a Master’s of Science degree in sports management in 1979 from the University of Massachusetts. During his undergraduate days at Bloomsburg, he was a two-year letterwinner in football and baseball from 1973-75. In the fall of 2008 he was awarded the Harold VanderZwaag distinguished alumnus award from UMASS and in the fall of 2009 he was inducted into the Bloomsburg University Hall of Fame.

De Carolis came to OSU from the University of Michigan where he began his career in 1979 as an administrative assistant and head softball coach.He was promoted numerous times, eventually to senior associate athletic director.

He is married to the former Sandra Taylor and they have three children; daughter Lyndsay, a senior at the University of Michigan, and twin daughters Lauren and Hayley, seniors at Crescent Valley High School in Corvallis.

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